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IATEFL over for another year

I am now back in the office after a very stimulating IATEFL conference in Glasgow with a pile of business cards to go through, emails to answer, enquiries to follow-up on and tasks to finish.

The conference was a very memorable one with many inspiring presentations. It was great to meet so many great teachers, brimming with ideas and enthusiasm.

First of all, a big thank you to all those early birds who turned up at 8.15 on the first morning to hear me talk about getting published in ETp. Several people have already been in contact to ask for our guidelines for contributors and I am looking forward to receiving articles from them as a result.

Amongst the presentations I attended were those by Nicholas Northall, who talked about how he circulates articles from ELT magazines to his colleagues and trainees – choosing ones which are particularly relevant to their immediate context or which contain ideas and viewpoints that will provoke discussion. It was gratifying to see that many of the examples on his handout came from ETp.

One of the most enjoyable presentations I went to was that given by Claire Hunter on using TED talks in the classroom. Claire is a very charismatic presenter and her ideas and examples were inspirational. I loved the video she showed of one of her students teaching the rest of the class how to fold a T-shirt – and I will never tie my shoelaces the same way again!

Another talk I enjoyed was that by Andrew Hart, who reported on his research into how attitudes to peer observation are influenced by a teacher’s qualifications and experience. His data revealed considerable enthusiasm for peer observations, though respondents to his survey differed on whether the giving of feedback can or should be taught and whether peer observation should be voluntary or compulsory.

Nicholas, Claire and Andrew all agreed to be interviewed on camera and these interviews will be added to the video section of the website over the next few weeks.

Thank you to all those who came to our stand to say hello and to comment on the magazine and our new website, especially those who have promised to send in articles. I look forward to hearing from all of you in the coming months.